Inspire Me Monday - Thinking of Spring!

 

Hello, Power Poppy Fans! It is my turn again to bring you the Inspire Me Monday project. I continue to be plagued with migraines, exhaustion, and joint pain. I appreciate everyone who has prayed for me over the past months! It is so frustrating and debilitating! I have been trying to do EVERYTHING on my good days, which is not that...well that good for me! 

Now, what an uninspiring opening! However, I know that many of you are also battling "stuff" right now, and you can relate. I also know, like me, you are probably looking for that light at the end of the tunnel. For me that light is spring and Easter. I live where the weather is pretty fine all year round, but for those who live in snowy climates, you must be ready for SPRING!

To get that spring feeling, I pulled out a bunch of spring images and printed them in a large, coloring book page size. If you go to the Power Poppy Store, and do a search on "spring" you will see many amazing stamps pop up!

I pulled out some colored pencils and started to color and experiment. I tried this pencil brand on that paper. I tried this color combo of green, and then that other one. I played and flitted around like a butterfly! I spent a lot of time planning, which is my normal mode of operation. 

However, I really needed to just get to it! I knew that I may only have one good day out of three, and here I was fiddle-faddling around! Mercy sakes!

In the end, I settled on printing this image (Lilac and Lemons) onto kraft cardstock to color with colored pencils. This is as far as I got because, I continued to be bothered by the fact that this brand of pencils does not have color names! They each have a unique number, but no names! Because my brain cannot let go of something once I latch onto it, I decided to give each and every one of the 168 pencils in this set a name! Yes, I did! (If you are interested in such things, visit my personal blog on March 11th to see the end product.)

I had a few happy days researching colors and thinking up descriptive color names, and just having a creative party for myself! Which did not translate into a finished project in time for today's post, but it did give me a fun boost of creativity!

At this point in time, I have been allowing my creativity to go off on adventures. If I don't I am simply unable to create at all. But, although I did not actually MAKE anything I still wanted you to have something to look at. Here are a few of my past spring inspiration pieces!

I colored this project last month, over a few weeks time. The image is the Volumes of Beauty digital stamp. I colored this with only Crayola colored pencils! I was proving a point about coloring with inexpensive materials. I love how this turned out, even with budget products!

This is the Shimmering Flight digital stamp colored with Copics and glitter gel pen. I love the different textures on this project!

This bright "pop in the eye" project was also colored with Copics. The image is the Luminous Bouquet digital stamp. This panel is one of  a series that I colored a few years ago. I place these panels on my desk each month for a spot of color and inspiration! I highly recommend surrounding yourself with your own creative efforts! 

I hope that you get inspired to grab some spring images, some spring colors, and have a day of colorful play! Don't feel like you must have a finished project at the end of it. Just explore your creative spirit and see what happens! 

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm Looking Over .... a Good Vibe 4!

Hi-dee Ho happy stampers! Happy Friday to y'all! We are just days away from the day when the Luck 'o the Irish rules and everyone who isn't a little Irish worries that if they don't wear green, they might be pinched! Yes, that would be me. :-) I decided instead of honoring this wonderful day of the week with FIVE good vibes that I'd mimic that lucky little four-leaf clover and dish out FOUR good vibes to get you through your weekend spurts of creativity! 

ARE YOU READY? 

If you look above, you'll get a little teaser of some of the Power Poppy goodness that I plan to share with you all today! First up on our little trip through the blog-o-sphere is over to Gloria Stengel's place on the web where she colored up Power Poppy's Luminous Bouquet in such a dynamic way my jaw dropped! One extra special little tidbit as well -- Gloria has been coloring up one Power Poppy image each month since September and has some beauties that she shared just a few weeks ago. If you missed her post, you really need to click HERE to see for yourself! In the meantime, check out this beauty below! Look at the depth of that coloring and those absolutely fabulous bits of clover! Ahhhh... thanks Gloria! This is indeed a treasure!

You don't need me to tell you that Jennifer Dove is an absolute master at Copic Coloring. But, if for some strange reason, you didn't realize that, check this out sweet peeps! I mean, come on! Look at this hoppy bunch that Jennifer has going green! This little image is from Power Poppy's stamp set called O Hoppy Day! Being from a family who truly loves their craft beer, I say "cheers" to this one for sure! Since St. Patty's Day tends to revolve around green beer, I included this one just for funsies!

Cynde Whitlow pulled out the big guns i.e. her Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils to create this perky little pop of luck! What's awesome about Cynde's work of art? Not only did she use a digital stamp set that you can buy, download, print and color in a matter of minutes (Power Poppy's Wish You Luck digi), she has a video HERE to give you a step by step guide on coloring up your own bunch of lucky little clover leaves!

And for our last Good Vibe 4 this week, you need to join me for this week's Creative Confetti! At the center of it all is sending a little luck to those you love! Check out this week's challenge where you can mix a little luck and a little green to share good wishes with others!  For my creation, I used one of Power Poppy's brand new digis called Shamrock 'n' Roll, which I think is too darling for words with those sweet pops of clover and that darling little blossom at the center of it all!

And that, my friends, concludes our lucky little round up to get you in the Irish spirit of St. Patty's Day! So, I bid you farewell with a little love from the Bloomies, and this wee Irish blessing -- May your troubles be less and your blessings be more and nothing but happiness come through your door!

Christine Okken

Julie Koerber

Katie Sims

Stacy Morgan

Tosha Leyendekker

Thanks for stopping by! We'll be back soon with more ways to inspire and WOW! ;-)

Happy St. Patty's Day!
~Julie

It's My Birthday: New Digis and Goodies

Girrrrrrrl, we have a lot going on over here, for a number of reasons, it’s kind of an exciting day... tee hee, it’s my birthday!

Yep, 46 years old, and in need of my son Finn’s hand to hold up my double chin for our selfie. Ain’t life grand? I sure think so! We have a few announcements for today... first of all, our May Instant Garden digi is finally ready — in June. We’ll still bring you an all-new illustration for coloring on June 15, but to keep you entertained and inspired until then, we have a pretty special one today.

Say hello to Luminous Bouquet — a rich and wild cluster comprised of so many dynamic flowers. At the very center is a Japanese-type Peony — as you can see in Cheryl’s wonderful card above, you can really have fun with coloring this one!! The center is comprised of “petaloids” — spikey, wispy, wild petals that radiate coolness! They come in all the regular Peony shades from white to yellow to pink to red and every mixture in between. Then we have several species Clematis, which Cheryl has done in brilliant blue. The tiny flowers flittering about are Hydrangea (in purple above). Several leaves of Oxalis (clover) peek from behind the Peony. These leaves are SO fun to color in two-tone — you’ll have to do some Googling for ideas. Lastly, sprigs of Periwinkle (Vinca minor) curl around the perimeter of the bouquet. Doesn’t this look fun? I cannot wait to get my paints out to take on this one!! But wait, there’s more....

Seeing as how it’s the 5th of the month, it’s also time to introduce a few “Digis on the 5s” for our wonderful coloring and cardmaking community. One is a very detailed country scene with Hollyhock flowers called Old Time Hollyhocks. I’ve gotten a lot of requests for this one, and am thrilled to share it with you as a digital stamp set — it comes with a neat sentiment by Emily Dickinson, as well! 

We are also sharing a remixed set called Bubbles & Fizz — do any of my dear Aussies see a resemblance to the Australian native tree Golden Wattle? This stylized version of Acacia pycnantha is as bubbly and fanciful as they come, and Nancy has done this one up in pink, which I just LOVE! This image is just a breeze to color, and would be fun done in any manner of fun flower/leaf combinations. Stretch your imagination with Bubbles & Fizz, and be sure to check out the upbeat sentiment that comes with it.

So, in total, we have THREE new digital stamp sets for you to play with — all landing in the shop on the same day! Want to know how you can get a BIG discount on these stamp sets? You’ll have to come with me on a little trip over to Facebook....

Come visit Passionate Paper Creations and Friends, the Facebook community run by our very own hilariously wonderful, insanely talented friends, (and an Instant Gardener!), Rhea Weigand. Power Poppy is the sponsor of the week, and if you go over to THIS PAGE on Facebook, you can join in on the fun and get a discount code to use in our store all week. PLUS, we’re having a coloring contest where you can win a $30 shopping code at powerpoppy.com — get on over there and join the group!

A recap of the images we are releasing today for your creative enjoyment.... all three of them! Which one will you dive into first?

Luminous Bouquet

Old Time Hollyhocks

Bubbles & Fizz

ALL WEEK LONG we’ll be revealing cards made with these fun new downloadable sets. Today we have a few to share from these amazing Instant Gardeners. Pop by their blogs and read all about their lively cards, always made with passion and an abundance of creativity:

Cheryl Scrivens

Nancy Sheads

Rhea Weigand

Thank you so much for spending part of my birthday with me! I’m just happy to be here to celebrate another sunshiney morning. As the visionary man Thich Nhat Hanh loves to say, “BREATHE! You are alive!!” 

I hope you’ll come join the party over at Passionate Paper Creations on Facebook... more excitement to come. Take care, my dear ones!